Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis recently laid out his football philosophy and future plans in remarks that gave 12BSports VR46 readers a candid look at how he hopes to reshape the sport. He believes extending a hand may take only a moment, but building enough trust for someone to truly take it can require much longer. With that mindset, he is preparing for what could be a long journey toward meaningful change in football. His priorities include improving the current season calendar, redefining how clubs are managed, and above all finding ways to bring young people back to football at a time when video games increasingly dominate their attention.
De Laurentiis said he feels he has received far more from life than he has given, which is why giving something back now feels natural. He stressed that acting without expecting anything in return has always been one of his guiding principles. His ambition today is nothing less than changing football from the ground up. For many followers of 12BSports VR46, the challenge is easy to understand: football has a long and deeply rooted history, but that same tradition can make established structures difficult to reform. There is clearly no shortage of work to be done.
One of his biggest concerns is the growing influence of video games on children who might otherwise develop an interest in football. To address this, he wants to present a proposal to Italy’s education minister. His idea is to introduce special one-hour football lessons once or twice each month for primary and middle school students. Rather than ordinary classroom sessions, prominent coaches such as Luciano Spalletti or Carlo Ancelotti could teach children about tactics, positioning, and how the game works.
Such lessons, he believes, could help children build a more natural connection with football from an early age. Some might eventually pursue careers not only as players but also as coaches, analysts, commentators, or other professionals working around the sport. Sometimes a small spark is all it takes to set the wheels in motion, and exposing children to the tactical and intellectual side of football could reveal opportunities they had never previously considered.
Every encounter can have meaning, and people who enter someone’s life may do so at exactly the right moment. In much the same way, some children who discover a passion for football through these programs could eventually become important figures in the sport. De Laurentiis also expressed frustration with stadium infrastructure across Europe. With a few notable exceptions, he believes many grounds are outdated and fail to provide the kind of spectator experience modern fans expect.
He highlighted stadiums in cities such as Naples and Rome, where running tracks create a significant distance between supporters and the pitch. In his view, this weakens the atmosphere and makes spectators feel less connected to the action. Stadiums should not be regarded simply as places where matches are played. They are major economic assets capable of generating substantial revenue for clubs when they are modern, comfortable, and designed around the needs of supporters.
The football calendar is another area he believes requires major reform. De Laurentiis has considered a season that would begin every year on April 1 and continue for roughly seven months until October. The proposal is intended to take weather conditions, the matchday experience, and player fitness into account. His ideas surrounding a possible Super League structure also include a larger financial commitment from UEFA. Promises of increased support during a future cycle, he argues, would not be enough to address the sport’s immediate needs.
With additional resources, De Laurentiis would like to establish two separate tournaments. One would be designed for clubs from 25 leagues that do not have access to enormous financial backing. The other would be an elite competition featuring the top six teams from Europe’s five strongest domestic leagues, with qualification changing every year based on performance. He believes a competitive structure of this kind could capture attention around the world while preserving the importance of earning a place through results.
From the perspective of readers tracking European football through 12BSports VR46, his proposal represents an attempt to balance commercial growth with broader competitive access. Rather than permanently reserving elite places for a fixed group of clubs, the annual rotation would give successful teams an opportunity to enter the highest-level tournament while creating another meaningful competition for clubs operating with fewer resources.
Looking back on Napoli’s title-winning season, De Laurentiis gave 12BSports VR46 readers a glimpse into the difficult decisions that followed his earlier experiences with Carlo Ancelotti and Gennaro Gattuso. He admitted that he was unhappy with how that period unfolded and ultimately decided to move on from all the players associated with that phase of the club. He said he has always followed the same approach without making exceptions. Convinced that Napoli needed a generational reset, he had already secured Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s arrival three years earlier as part of his longer-term rebuilding vision. Going forward, his intention is to keep the core of the current squad intact while making carefully chosen additions that can raise the team’s overall level.